Category: Health (Page 1 of 3)

Maxing out on the bench.

On Tuesday, I maxed out on the bench press at 175 pounds, which is 5 pounds more than my high school maximum.

To be fair, I mostly screwed around in my high school Physical Fitness class.  We were supposed to be running or lifting, but by telling the coach that we were running in the back gym, we could do flips and jumps onto the high jump pit.  

My brother and I are 16 months into our work-out routine.  That’s the longest I’ve ever stuck to any fitness program.  Working out so consistently, I wasn’t concerned about damaging something by attempting a max lift.

I’m currently doing two sets at 155 pounds.  It’s rough, but I can get about 10 reps in for each set.  Based on that, I should be able to max out at around 200 pounds, but I want to slowly approach the max.

Conventional wisdom is to do three sets of 8 to 12 reps, three times per week.  We only do two sets to get more different exercises in.  Two visits to the gym per week gives us more recovery time. 

Nestle launches Vital Pursuit.

CNBC: Nestle launches Vital Pursuit

People take these to work, and eat with their friends.  “Healthy Choice” and “Lean Cuisine” invite criticism if you courteously accept a cupcake that someone brought in for Dessert Thursday.  “Hungry Man” announces that even you don’t believe you are big-boned.  “Marie Callender’s” declares that you really are better than them.

More food brands should be named like a military operation. 

Taco Bell could move into frozen meals under the “Rolling Thunder” or “Urgent Fury” brand

Have a “Vital Pursuit” for lunch with a couple of Red Bulls, and you are Tommy Lee Jones, going after The Fugitive.  Your afternoon plan may be to teach Algebra 1 to a bunch of mopes who sniffed out all the dry erase markers, but you’re ready for that too.

Those old movies, with a manly star like Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant, made an impression on me.  The tough guy could be stranded on an island, living on the prairie or on the African Queen, and they always manage to shave.  Invariable, if the fella isn’t shaving, it’s because he is drunk all the time.

In The African Queen, Humphrey Bogart explains it.  “A man alone, he gets to living like a hog.”  Inevitably, a woman throws all the booze away and civilizes him.

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Politico: Far Right wants more babies.

Real Clear Politics: Have more babies.

Based on recent articles, we are supposed to worry about not having enough babies and people who worry about not having enough babies.

Back in the 1980’s, before we were afraid all the time, I supported several environmental groups.  Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund and a few others.  Never Greenpeace, they were already crazy.  World population was an issue of interest, so I supported a group called Negative Population Growth.

They were completely reasonable, but in retrospect, I can see how they could go off-the-rails in a catastrophic way.

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Hospital Saga

 

Maybe it’s Obama’s fault or capitalism or something, but my retiree health care is garbage.  I don’t know, maybe it’s fine, but being a public school teacher, I never had to pay for much.  Paying the first $8000 doesn’t sound like good coverage.

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Planet Fitness supports humiliating women.

Planet Fitness doesn’t judge perverts.

Working out with my brother has been going well.  We have worked out three times per week for over six months.  We’ve only missed three or four days in that entire time.  I’m working out with 150 lbs on the bench press.  That’s 30 lbs more than I did in high school.  I am up at least a couple of plates on every station.  It’ a shame that has to end.  We have to resign from Planet Fitness and find somewhere else.

The guy in the photo was shaving in the women’s locker room at Planet Fitness.  The woman who took the photo was in the women’s locker room along with other women and a 12 year old girl.

It’s clear that this man does not sincerely believe that he is a woman.  He looks to be in his 40’s, so isn’t some mixed up kid.  He is sporting a man’s haircut.  Shaving in the Planet Fitness locker room emphasizes that he is a man, and is an attempt to mock the women who are present.

The man is a degenerate who finds it gratifying to make women feel powerless and humiliated.  If he wanted to be sensitive to their reasonable concerns, he could have changed in a stall or before he came to the gym.  Alternatively, he should have made every effort to appear to be a woman.

The woman who took the photo, because she wanted photographic proof, had her membership cancelled by Planet Fitness.

Boycotting Bud Light was easy because it sucks.  There is a Planet Fitness gym near my house, my brother’s house and almost anywhere I’m likely to go.  For $30 per month, it’s a great value.  Finding a suitable alternative won’t be easy.

We will have to ask about the transgender locker room policy at any gym we consider.

Sticking with the workout.

Since Davy and I started working out, I wanted to encourage symmetry.  Some machines allow for a different weight for each arm.   It made sense to start with the highest weight that either arm could handle.  I don’t want to develop a lobster claw, where one arm is much stronger than the other.  That might be a fiddler crab I’m thinking of.

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WSJ: New Approaches to Back Pain

WSJ: New Approach to Back Pain

WSJ: New Approach to Back Pain

It seems like everyone I know has suffered from a bout of lower back pain.  What we used to call Lumbago, and is now, often called Sciatica.

Symptoms may range from a twinge when remaining in a particular position too long up to being unable to move without excruciating pain.  Every doctor had the patient go through the same process.

Let’s try stretching exercises, then medicated patches, moving on to steroid shots.  Hopefully, the problem resolves itself by that point.  Surgery is the last resort.

Common causes include injury, arthritis and degenerative changes in the spine. It tends to start at midlife with the natural wear and tear of aging. But often there is no clearly identifiable physical cause, leaving patients to veer from one ineffective treatment to another—including highly addictive prescription opioids.

The patient doesn’t veer, the doctors do.

Studies have shown that nonsurgical approaches can be more effective and less expensive than surgery.

I’ve known two people who progressed to back surgery.  Both had a full recovery with no return of symptoms.  Both were tall guys who were college athletes.

In a study at multiple sites nationwide, researchers are testing the effectiveness of four nonsurgical treatments in connection with specific personal traits of patients. Each treatment has been shown to work, though not equally well for everyone.

The four treatments: acceptance-and-commitment therapy, which helps people learn new skills for dealing with pain; duloxetine, a medication used for depression, anxiety and chronic musculoskeletal pain; an online program with personalized messages to teach lifestyle skills for pain management; and a form of exercise therapy with stretches, strength training and hands- on treatment by a physical therapist or chiropractor.

Three of those treatments would feel like the doctor isn’t doing anything.

In the first clinical trial of PRT [Pain Reprocessing Therapy], co-led by Ashar, 151 people with mild to moderate back pain were randomized into three groups. One got four weeks of intensive PRT, one received a placebo saline injection in the back, and one received care as usual. With PRT, 66% reported being pain free or nearly so after treatment, while only 20% of people who had the placebo and 10% of those in usual care reported similar improvements.

It’s pretty obvious that the medical community doesn’t understand back pain or how the spine works.  Training people to live with the pain is not a decent answer.  Better research is needed to determine what treatments will work for specific causes.

WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep

WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep

WSJ: Stop Worrying About Sleep

Everyone knows that getting eight hours of sleep is the key to health and happiness.

Everyone should know to doubt anything that everyone knows.  The knowledge that “everyone knows” is built from half-assed news reports, advertising and unverified assertions made often enough.

Thomas Edison only slept 4 hours per night, but he was a dick.  Nikola Tesla slept about 2 hours per night, but he wasn’t mentally or emotionally stable.

The trick is to know that everyone is different, and to pay attention to what works for you.  I do well at 1 1/2 hour intervals.  I can sleep for 6, 7.5 or 9 hours and feel refreshed, but if I do 6 hours for more than a few days, it takes a toll.

But one of the worst things you can do about your lack of sleep is to stress out about it, say scientists and doctors. Forcing yourself to try to sleep better will backfire.

“The more you focus on going to sleep, you’re not able to sleep,” says Dr. Reena Mehra, director of sleep-disorders research at Cleveland Clinic. “It works against the individual.”

People obsess over mundane human requirements like sleeping, drinking water or eating at specific times due to some news article they’ve read or heard about on NPR.  It’s best to not obsess over things humans have done for thousands of years. 

Listen to your body and figure out what works for you.
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